There's a Thin Line Between Being Literal and Not-So-Literal
by Risa Hijikata
Summary: When I walked down the street on a snowy Christmas night, I saw an unusual view. He was intimidating as he towered a crouched figure under the dim light of a convenience store, and his figure was horribly menacing. Surely, there is no such thing as compassion and kindness from others when misfortune has always been a great part of your life. (no pairing; one-shot) -COMPLETED-


**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!**

(yes I know I'm a bit late but better that than never^^)

I'm a bit sad lately at how some of the people around me is celebrating Christmas for all the wrong reasons. It's up to them how to spend their Christmas day I suppose and I'm not one to judge others but please, please remember guys, that Christmas doesn't exactly exists for us to heighten our sense of consumerism. The meaning behind presents can be found from the "act" of giving, not from what you materialistically "get". This day is also for quality time with family and friends, and also to be kind and compassionate to others - no matter if they have done the same to you throughout the year or not.

Well, this became a rant but you good people of fanfic readers, know all these right?

Anyway, here's a Christmas fic for your present. Enjoy :)

 **Disclaimer:** characters are always not mine.

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 **There's a Thin Line Between Being Literal and Not-So-Literal**

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Hijikata Toushirou is a great, big bastard.

Literally and perhaps not so literally.

Being a cop, we patrol the Edo street everyday and we have seen a lot of strangers, experiencing the different walkways of life. Some are lucky to walk in the spring of contention and satisfaction, ambitiously living their lives with the motto of 'Time is Money' and the-likes, whilst other people experience the deep winter and the never-ending blizzard that burrowed into the marrow of their bones.

No one would help the unfortunate because the Edo society is cold like a winter snow that way.

People do not help one another unless it is for their own families, or friends, or lovers. No one would stoop down and ask the homeless to stay with them for the night just because the weather is cold outside and the sky is covered by the clouds, taking away the stars from his company.

We do not help the homeless off the street or even spare a coin for them. We walk past them with our stomachs full and our thoughts occupied on who is waiting at home.

There is certainly no reason for someone to purposefully get out of their way to pitifully help strangers.

Not me, nor Hijikata-san.

We call ourselves the Shinsengumi, the task force that defends Edo from the evil that is Jouishishi. We swing our swords for ourselves and Kondo-san - because to protect civilians is what our Commander wished for and for him, we obliged.

In a way, we are heartless.

We protect Edo for the sake of one man and not for the sake of those who live in it.

Everyone in the Shinsengumi are like that. Especially, a certain rotten demon of a Vice-Commander.

I thought for sure, that he was definitely not an exception.

But it was then one night when I saw Hijikata Toushirou, walking out of a convenience store, no doubt to replenish his stock of cancer sticks. I was about to walk up to him, -to jeer at his unhealthy obsession for cigarettes and mayonnaise-, when I saw him stopping by a homeless man.

Tattered clothes, grimy fingernails, teeth missing in several places. His dinner-stained cap lie in the same waiting pose as him, gaping wide and lonely. The man is surely surprised at the towering figure in front of him and he trembles, for -what I guess,- fear for an unexpected beating that drunken men usually did to him in the blanket of the night.

It was pitiful.

But as to who it was that I pitied, -whether it is for the man who had experienced more instances of misfortune than others, or if it is for Hijikata-san's unintentional demonic aura who can sends an old man trembling in his sandals only by standing in front of him-, I do not know.

The two made for an odd combination as they paused under the dim light of the convenience store in this snowy Christmas night.

Anyway, as I had earlier said, Hijikata Toushirou is a bastard. A good kind of bastard. He leaned down to place a warm bento along with mayonnaise and warm sake that he had bought in the convenience store, in front of the man. Before the man even realized as to what had happened, Hijikata-san had already continued making his way down to the barracks, disappearing down the street without letting the homeless old man utter a 'thank you'.

I watched in silence. My initial thought to come up to him was long forgotten. I continued walking in the same direction, to the barrack where we both will inevitably meet again.

As I thought, Hijikata Toushirou is a great, big bastard. Literally and perhaps not so literally. But then again, I would prefer a good kind of bastard to stain my hands in red when I take away the position of the Shinsengumi's Vice-Commander in the very near future.

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A/N: ahahaha,.. you can definitely guess who the narrator of this fic is, right? ;)


End file.
